The West Bengal government on June 18 urged private COVID-19 hospitals not to put the entire burden of additional expenses of treatment on patients, but to bear a part of it keeping in mind the current economic slowdown.

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Referring to reports that there are huge differences in prices charged by private laboratories for COVID-19 tests, the Chief Secretary also said that the government may have to fix a rate, if this is not rationalised. "We have information that if seven doctors attend a patient, the cost of PPEs of all of them is paid by the patient. This is not right. You cannot put all the cost on patients. "The hospital should bear a part of it and the patient should be asked to bear only a small part of it. Because of the economic slowdown, everybody is facing problems," he said.

The chief secretary was talking to reporters after holding a meeting with representatives of private hospitals. There are discrepancies in prices charged by private laboratories for COVID-19 tests and that has to be rationalized, he said adding that one lab is charging Rs 2,800 while another is doing it for Rs 4,500, he said. "We have urged them to reduce the charges for conducting (COVID-19) tests. We have not fixed anything (till now). But we will decide on it if we find that problems are arising. We are keeping a watch on it," he said.

COVID-19 tests are now done in 47 laboratories, including private ones, across the state. The top bureaucrat also said that the government has information that a section of private hospitals is denying admission to coronavirus patients but they cannot do it as per law. "As per the Clinical Establishment Act, private hospitals have no option of refusing patients having infectious diseases. They are bound to keep them in isolation. The state government does not enforce laws on anybody but they should not forget that," he said.

During the meeting, private hospitals were also urged to create packages for patients with mild coronavirus symptoms and those who are on home isolation and do not have any idea about the mode of treatment. The chief secretary said that there are currently more than 10,000 beds for COVID-19 patients in government and private hospitals in West Bengal and over 8,000 of these are unoccupied. "In the last 24 hours, some private hospitals have increased the number of beds. At the moment there are 1,000 COVID-19 beds in private hospitals in Kolkata and 50 percent of these are vacant," he said.

Private hospitals must also put up the number of available beds on display boards at their facilities, he said adding that information about the occupancy at state government-run COVID-19 hospitals will be available on the health department's website. An official of a private hospital, who was present at the meeting, said they assured the government to add to their existing numbers of beds for COVID-19 patients. "The chief secretary also took into consideration that we have to pay a lot to purchase PPEs, masks, and sanitiser, and that is putting some additional burden on patients. The government suggested that we get these from the MSME department at cheaper rates, so that the advantage can be percolated down to patients," he told PTI.

The state government has also stipulated that June 19 onwards, the health department portal will provide information on the availability of COVID beds in private hospitals, he added.